CHAPTER 13 "Odds Against Us"
June 11, 1944 (D-Day plus 5); Past Bridge #4, outside Carentan, Normandy; France
1100 Hours
"What does that look like to you?" Captain Collins asked.
"Looks like an MG-42; second floor window, up that house over there. I say 5 Germans inside."
"Any suggestions, Lieutenant?"
"Flank it on their left, draw enemy fire from here. Storm the house and kill everything that moves, sir."
"Let's just hope that's not as suicidal as it sounds…" He smirked.
"There isn't anything in our line of work that isn't suicidal, sir." Lieutenant Alderman replied.
The Captain went back to us. We were huddled by a wooden fence bordering a house. Before us is a cabbage patch and a house beside it; the enemy is there. We were just 8 guys. Including the Captain himself.
The fighting in Carentan is taking place as we waited for orders from him. The 502nd was leading the charge. Though we are a few kilometres from the town itself; right now we have to deal with the farms and grasslands that the Germans are in. Paratroopers are everywhere, running forward even from a distance. No one seems to be taking one step backwards, though. We were all quite eager to take this town as quickly as possible. We take Carentan; the drive out of Normandy will be taken over by the VII Corps.
But if we don't and took a little longer, the soldiers from the beaches would have wasted so much time. The Germans by then would have called in already reinforcements from the Calais region; truly making the odds against us.
"OK guys, listen up. There is a machine gun nest up that house over there. Martin, Jacobs and Kessler; you people with me and we'll draw their fire. Turner, O'Shea and McCarran; go with Alderman, move in position, flank it and clear that house."
"Got it."
"Yes, sir."
"Keep your heads down as you go. Assume your places! Now!"
We nodded. I crept up with Hugh and David. The Lieutenant was just over the fence. We made our way to the other fence bordering the road; hoping it was wide enough to cover our heads.
Then, without a warning, the Germans fired. A long stream of bullets shot at the Captain's group.
"Get down! Jacobs, get your head down!"
I didn't dare to look back. We kept moving at the Lieutenant's pace. Captain Collins was yelling. But my mind closed out his words; ordering the rest of us to move in position. I just followed Lieutenant Alderman as we made our way near the house; crouching as we go.
"Our Father, who art in heaven…" O'Shea mumbled.
"Don't get too excited now, David." McCarran told him.
"Yeah. Besides, God is busy. This is on you." I smirked.
"I'm just…nervous man…You sure we're going to flank that spot?"
It was actually his first time to take part in an advancing party. His first time to be part of the spearhead of things. I laughed in my mind that he was chickening out already.
"Stay low, men! We need to get to that house without the krauts seeing us." The Lieutenant bid us.
I turned around; Captain Collins' group moved up into the house behind us. I couldn't see where the others are, but I was damn sure that it was his arm that I was seeing. At the second floor window. He was the only one holding a Thompson. But he was cautious, though. His gun wasn't poking outside of the window. A precaution so that the Germans on the other side of the field wouldn't see where the shots are coming from.
Soon he fired; a volley of rounds against the machine gun nest. His shooting was followed by rifle rounds all crossed against the MG-42 on the house from afar. They laid down covering fire, so that the enemy wouldn't mind us creeping at their flank.
Their firing was ferocious. The Germans inside the house could do nothing but stop shooting and keep their heads down as well.
"Keep moving! Go! Go!"
Soon, we were already past the enemy's line of sight. We stood up as we huddled near the doorstep. Lieutenant Alderman told us to stay back. He pulled out a grenade from his pocket.
He pulled the pin; the grenade smoking as the fuse began to slowly light up the TNT inside of it.
"Fire in the hole!" He yelled.
He threw it into the window. We all ducked down. We heard the grenade tumble inside the room. Soon, there came the screams.
"Granate! Granate!"
BOOM!
The window was shattered immediately; shrapnel was ricocheting inside. Smoke began to fume out from the windowpane. We stood up and went by the door.
"It's locked!" McCarran said.
He gave it a quick kick. The door went down immediately as the lock broke; Lieutenant Alderman went in first as we followed him inside. We were in the dining room. A table is there with a few chairs and cupboards around. The door beside the room led to the living room.
"GO! GO! GO!"
We opened it. What befell in front of us was a mess. This was the room where the grenade went off.
"Shit!"
I glanced at the strewn remains of a German soldier, his body partly withered because of the explosion.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
3 shots came from McCarran's rifle. I turned around. A German falling down dead as he came out of the living room.
"Upstairs! Go!"
That was where the MG-42 was nested.
"Stand back!" Lieutenant Alderman bid us.
He brought out another grenade. He pulled the pin and threw it up, landing at the floor directly above us. We moved away from the living room; the shrapnel might go through the wooden planks of the second floor and indirectly hit us. I could hear the grenade's metallic bouncing, like a plastic figurine falling from the table it is sitting on.
BOOM!
The explosion was followed by screams.
The room above was shaken as smoke billowed throughout.
"Move up!"
Lieutenant Alderman took the lead and went up first. We followed him. The second floor was a bed room; glass splinters and wooden remains were charred by heat and shrapnel; as well as 3 German soldiers dead, emaciated like their fallen comrades at the floor below.
The MG-42 was there, as well as some ammunition boxes and spent casings and cartridge links.
We scanned the place. No more signs of life, aside from ours.
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
"Clear over here, Lieutenant."
We all sighed. Lieutenant Alderman peered outside the window gave a thumbs up to the other house. Captain Collins and the rest were there. I looked out as well. The Captain waved out his hand; confirming that it is all clear. He then left the window, assuming he would gather the others and make their way to this house.
The Lieutenant went to us.
"Good job guys. Let's move outside and assemble with the Captain."
"Excellent work, Lieutenant. Job well done." Captain Collins applauded us.
I noticed that they were two men less.
"Kessler has been hit pretty badly. Martin stayed behind with him. McCarran, take O'Shea and see if you can patch him up. He's in the bedroom upstairs."
"Yes sir. Come on, David."
"Where do we go from here, Captain?" I asked.
"We'll stay behind. We need to regroup with 2nd Platoon and bring up the rear. The 502nd is already nearing the town of Carentan anyway. We'll just let them do the job for us."
Come to think of it, we only just advanced by 2 kilometres. The bulk of the paratroopers are probably half a mile away. I could tell by the firing I kept hearing from the distance.
"Any word from Sergeant Spears, Lieutenant?" the Captain asked.
"Regiment Command told them to help reinforce Bridge #4, with the elements of Fox Company. Apparently, when G Company came under heavy aerial bombardment from the Luftwaffe in the region, they asked support to help them hold bridge. I heard that the 407th Glider Field Artillery has been moved up from Ste. Come-du-Mont so that they could oversee the flanks bordering the Madeleine Crossing."
"Heh. That's new. I thought that the brass would never move their precious artillery out of place."
"Maybe they got afraid that we might not capture Carentan in time, sir." I replied.
"Whoa. For the first time, you began to think, Turner!" he laughed.
"Well I-"
"Was he the one who nearly flunked the training in Camp Toccoa?" Lieutenant Alderman asked, smiling a bit as he mused over that thought.
"Yeah…the guy who jumped over the barbed wire."
"Sir?" I quivered.
"Just kidding. It was actually the fence. Of course I wouldn't forget that."
They were laughing. I felt that I shrunk with shame. That was one of the most embarrassing moments in my life. Funny. 2 years had past and the guys still remember it. I guess that's because it was my first notion of myself to the Company.
"We'll hold up here for now, await orders from Command if something new comes by."
I guess that was just fair for us. It was a long day. I wanted to sleep.
"Lieutenant, take Jacobs with you and head back to 2nd Platoon. Tell them to reassemble with the rest of Able Company. I'll need their radio to contact HQ about our progress."
-TO BE CONTINUED-